Data Centers in Ireland Surpass Residential Power Consumption

Ireland data centres consume more power than houses - ET Telecom

Dublin: Data centres based in Ireland, a European hub for the energy-guzzling facilities, now consume over a fifth of the EU member's electricity, overtaking that used by all urban Irish homes combined, official statistics showed Tuesday. According to Ireland's Central Statistics Office (CSO), data centres consumed 21 percent of all metered electricity consumption in 2023, up from five percent in 2015 and 18 percent in 2022. For the first time that exceeded electricity consumption in urban homes: 18 percent in 2023, down from 19 percent the previous year. Rural households accounted for 10 per cent. The results come with increasingly heated debate in Ireland around the energy needs of data centres which house computer storage facilities. Concerns are rising around the pressure the centres put on the electricity grid, especially as demand accelerates due to breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. Earlier this year Ireland's grid operator Eirgrid predicted the emergence of looming "electricity supply challenges" for Ireland this decade, in part due to "growth of demand driven by large energy users and data centres". By 2028 data centres are projected to consume nearly 30 percent of Ireland's electricity, according to an International Energy Agency report published in January. Tech giants such as Google, Meta, Amazon and TikTok already operate some of the more than 80 data centres in Ireland, with several expansions or new facilities in the pipeline. Ireland's boom in data centres and tech companies has been powered by its policy of low corporate taxation.

Data centres now consume 21pc of Ireland's electricity

New CSO data shows that there has been a 16pc jump in consumption by 'large energy users' - which includes data centres - between 2022 and 2023. Data centres now account for more than a fifth of electricity consumption in Ireland, according to latest figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). CSO data published today (23 July) show data centres consumed 21pc of Ireland's metred electricity, up from 18pc in 2022 and a significant jump from the 5pc share it held in 2005. This means data centres have now overtaken urban dwellings, which dropped one percentage point to 18pc in 2023. Meanwhile, rural dwellings kept steady at 10pc. CSO figures also show that total electricity consumption was up 2.5pc in 2023 compared with 2022, with a notable 16pc jump in consumption by "large energy users" - which includes data centres among others. This comes in the context of increasing concerns around the pressure data centres are putting on Ireland's grid. Data centres are expected to consume nearly a third of Ireland's total electricity by 2026, according to an International Energy Agency report published in January. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities issued new directions in 2021 on connection applications from data centres for electricity grid operators EirGrid and ESB Networks. These directions sought to ensure that new connection applications from a growing number of data centres do not put pressure on Ireland's grid in a way that sees demand outstrip supply and cause blackouts. It came soon after EirGrid predicted "electricity supply challenges" this decade in part due to the growth of large energy users such as data centres. It forecast an increase of up to 43pc in demand for electricity by 2030 and said that data centres could account for one-quarter of all power consumption by the end of the decade. Demand for data centres has surged ever since the advent of a global AI race to build the most advanced large language models, or LLMs. Some of the Big Tech companies building data centres in Ireland include TikTok, with its Project Clover sites now operational, and Amazon, which secured planning permission to build three new data centres in Dublin last September. Last month, Google said it will increase its data centre capacity in Dublin through an expansion of its current Grange Castle site. The company has revealed plans to build a 72,400 sq m data storage facility at the Grange Castle Business Park in Dublin 22, where it already has two data centres. Find out how emerging tech trends are transforming tomorrow with our new podcast, Future Human: The Series. Listen now on Spotify, on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.

Ireland's datacentres overtake electricity use of all homes combined, figures show

The statistics have raised concerns that the rise in demand for data processing driven by AI could derail climate targets Ireland's energy-hungry datacentres consumed more electricity last year than all of its urban homes combined, according to official figures. The country's growing fleet of datacentres used 21% of its electricity, an increase of a fifth on 2022 according to the Central Statistics Office. It was the first year that datacentres supporting the Irish tech hub surpassed the electricity used by homes in its towns and cities, which consumed 18% of the grid's total power last year. Experts have raised concerns that the sudden surge in power demand driven by datacentres could derail climate targets in Ireland and across Europe. Google, which has based its European headquarters in Ireland, said earlier this month that its datacentres risked delaying its green ambitions after driving a 48% increase in its overall emissions last year compared with 2019. The rise in demand for data processing, driven by recent breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI), could lead Ireland's datacentres to consume about 31% of Ireland's electricity within the next three years, according to the country's National Energy and Climate Plan. This would eclipse the electricity demand of Ireland's urban and rural homes, which together made up 28% of overall power demand in 2023, according to the figures. It would also pile pressure on tech companies to invest more in developing their own renewable energy supplies. Ireland's boom in datacentres and tech companies has been fuelled by its policy of low corporate taxation. Professor Paul Deane, a senior research fellow at University College Cork (UCC), told the Irish Examiner: "If we already had lots of wind and lots of solar, it wouldn't be a problem. "We're still so reliant on fossil fuels. We need to be able to build up renewables very quickly. We're good at building large datacentres quickly but not as good at building renewables." Ireland relied on fossil fuels for more than 50% of its electricity last year, of which 45% was generated by gas plants and the remainder from burning coal, peat or oil. Wind power made up 34.6% of Ireland's electricity, while solar contributed 1.2%. Deane said Ireland "can't have its environmental cake and eat it".